The gifted students of Hogwarts’s School for Witchcraft and Wizardry are back—though they might look slightly different. Today Scholastic released four images from the coming fully illustrated edition of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” which hits shelves Oct. 6.

Dark and atmospheric, the illustrations feature four major characters from the series. Draco Malfoy sports a typically pale and unfriendly expression in one drawing, while Hermione Granger holds an illuminated jar before her in another. Ron Weasley appears as a half-smiling narrow-faced boy, with recognizably large ears and unruly hair. A hulking Rubeus Hagrid also makes an appearance. Read More »

To mark the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the first book in her seven-book fantasy series, Scholastic is re-issuing the novels with reimagined covers.

Artist Mary GrandPré did the original American covers; the new batch were created by Kazu Kibuishi, the cartoonist behind the bestselling “Amulet” graphic novels. Trade paperbacks featuring each of the seven reimagined covers will be issued in September. The GrandPré editions will continue to be used for hardcover and digest paperback (smaller-format, mass market) editions.

According to Scholastic there are more than 150 million Potter books in print in the U.S.

Kibuishi answered some questions about his new Potter covers via email last night. Read his answers after the jump. Read More »

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